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THE OLD 
MARTYRS' PRISON 



NEW YORK 



AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 
OLDEST MUNICIPAL BUILDING 
IN NEW YORK CITY: USED AS A 
BRITISH PRISON DURING THE 
WAR FOR AMERICAN INDEPEND- 
ENCE: BUILT ABOUT 1756 AND 
KNOWN AT DIFFERENT TIMES 
AS "THE NEW GAOL," "THE 
DEBTORS' PRISON," "THE PRO- 
VOST," "THE HALL OF RECORDS" 
AND "THE REGISTER'S OFFICE." 

Presented to 

The Board of Aldermen 
of the City of New York 

by 

The American Scenic and 
Historic Preservation Society 



Reprinted from 

"THE CITY RECORD" 

of October 23, 1902 



Scenic anD i^i^toric i^re^ertation S'ociett 





Incorporated 1893 




5 




^J^fficers 




? 




President 


Hon. Andrew H. Grekn 


- 




Vice- Pre sid en ts 


Hon. Charles S. Francis 




Frederick W. Devoe 


- 


J. Pierpont Morgan- 


. 


Walter S. Logan 


- 



Edward Payson Conk 
Col. Henry W. Sackett 
Samuel Par.sons, Jr. 
Edward Hagaman Hall 



Samuel P. Avery 
Reginald Pelham Bolton 
Mrs. Wm. Brookfield 
H. K. Bush-Brown 
Edward Payson Cone 
Richard T. Davies 
Frederick W. Devoe 
Hon. Charles S. Francis 
Hon. Robert L. Fryer 
Hon. Andrew H. Green 
H^nry E. Gregory 
Francis Whiting Halsey 
Hon. Hugh Hastings 
Ediward P. Hatch 
George F. Kunz 
Frederick S. Lamb 
Hon. Francis G. Lan Ion 



Treasurer 



Counsel 



Landscape Architect 
Secretary 



214 Broadway, New York 

Troy 

New York 

- New York 

New York 

314 West 90th Street, New York 

Tribune Building, New York 
St. James Building, New York 
Tribune Building, New York 



. '5 



Walter S. Logan 

J. Pierpont Morgan 

Ira K. Morris 

M. Sexton Northrup 

Hon. John Hudson Peck 

Hon. George W. Perkins 

Edward T. Potter 

Thomas R. Proctor 

William H. Russell 

Col. Henry W. Sackett 

Albert Ulmann 

Hon. Wm. Van Valkenburgh 

Hon. Thomas V. Welch 

Mornay Williams 

Charles F. Wingate 

Frank S. Withcrbee 



Oifi 



28 i«190l 



COMMUNICATION. 



The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 

Tribune Building, New York City, 

October 21, 1902. 

The Honorable Board of Aldermen of The City of New York: 

Gentlemen — On April 28. 1902. the trustees of the American Scenic and Historic 
Preservation Society appointed Messrs. Charles F. Wingate, Albert Ulmann and Ed- 
ward Hagaman Hall a committee to call public attention to the loss which the City 
would sustain in the removal of the Martyrs' Prison, now used as the Hall of Rec- 
ords. In the open letter published by this committee April 30 they declared their 
belief that "if the people of New York 'were familiar with its traditions they would 
strenuously oppose the desecration of this honored structure." 

In the hope that there may yet be time and means to secure the preservation of 
the historic building upon its present or some other convenient site, and in order 
that a wider knowledge of its history may lead, if possible, to the taking of steps to 
that end, I beg to transmit herewith a relation of the principal events of interest in 
its history. And if there is any resource yet left within your power to save the 
building, either in its present location or elsewhere, we earnestly trust that you will 
use it. 

This society has a quasi-official status, being chartered by a special act of the 
Legislature of New York and answerable to it in an annual report. It is the society's 
policy to use conservatively the powers committed to it by its charter, including the 
privilege "to make recommendations to any municipality in the State of New 
York, or its proper officers, respecting improvements in the scenic or material 
conditions thereof." and it would not let mere sentimental consideration for a 
building like the Hall of Records stand in the way of any public improvement which 
modern conditions absolutely require. 

But much as the City is in need of open areas, it does not appear to the writer 
that the few square feet to be gained by the removal of the Hall of Records would 
be an adequate compensation fo- the loss of this, the oldest municipal building in 
the City, and a building which represents as no other in New York the sufferings 
that were endured and the sacrifices that were made by American patriots for the 
cause of American independence. It is safe to say that if its character had not been 
obscured for two generations under the title of the Hall of Records, and it had been 
cherished since the Revolution as a Martyrs' Prison, the proposal to remove it 
would have aroused an irresistible storm of public indignation. But this past neglect 
does not deprive the building of its character, and what it might have been in the 



past as a powerful object lesson in the community it can yet be made in the future 
in proper hands. Indeed, in spite of the use to which it has been put, it has a wide- 
spread reputation abroad, and visitors fro.m distant States view it with the greatest 
interest. 

If there is a crying need for more open space in City Hall Park, there are 
structures in that area which might be parted with at a less sacrifice than the Hall of 
Records. 

We should no longer urge the retention of this building in situ if the demands 
of public convenience in the construction of the rapid transit tunnel absolutely 
required its removal, but it is difficult to believe that the wonderful engineering 
skill which has successfully penetrated the vaults of the ponderous Post Office 
Building, which has safely tunneled under the thirteen-story Times Building, and 
performed marvelous engineering feats elsewhere along the line, can find the little 
four-story Hall of Record:; an insurmountable obstacle. 

It should be remembered that although the exterior appearance of the old 
Martyrs' Prison has been altered, the main walls, foundations and picturesque arched 
vaults of the cellar are substantially unchanged, and a personal examination of them 
reveals no sign of any present danger to life other than that threatened by the 
proximity of the subway excavations — a danger of which we have had confirming 
evidence in other parts of the City, but which nevertheless can be avoided by proper 
precautions, it is believed. 

It has been claimed that the architectural changes made in the exterior of the 
Martyrs' Prison gave it some resemblance to the far-famed Temple of Liana at 
Ephesus, once one of the seven wonders of the world, which Herostratus de- 
strQyed that he might win perpetual fame. The efforts, however, to convert the 
building into the likeness of the beautiful temple sacred to the Goddess of Light 
were far from successful, but suffering and death in the great cause of human 
liberty, as represented in the War for Independence, have given it a sacredness 
which architectural changes could not impart, and modern destroyers may well 
hesitate to invite the dubious fame which the Ephesian youth earned by the burning 
of its celebrated alleged protqtype. 

Very respectfully, 

EDWARD HAGAMAN HALL. 
Secretary, in behalf of iiie Committee. 

Committee on Hall of Records. 



CHARLES F. WINGATE, 
ALBERT ULMANN, 
EDWARD HAGAMAN HALL. 



THE OLD MARTYRS* PRISON. 

NEW YORK. 



In the destruction of the old Hall of Records, which appears to be ordained by the 
decision of Justice Leventritt of the Supreme Court, October lo, 1902, The City of 
New York will lose one of the very few remaining landmarks connecting the present 
with the pre-revolutionary period of its history. 

To persons who see in such a relic something more than an inert mass of masonry, 
who are susceptible to the power of association which imparts to a lifeless object 
something of the life that has been associated with it in passing years, and to whose 
inner eye plain stone walls like these become graven tablets teaching an imperishable 
lesson of heroism and self-sacrifice, the destruction of this link connecting the present 
with a bygone generation will be a source of deep regret. 

There has been much in the history of this venerable building which is not 
intrinsically a source of pride, but which may profitably be recalled as a reminder of 
ancient times and of obsolete customs which we have happily outgrown; but there 
has been much more which cannot fail to stir the patriotic pulse and arouse the 
enthusiasm of every citizen of New York, and of every American wherever he may 
live, who has an adequate appreciation of the price at which our American liberties 
were purchased a century and a quarter ago. 

There are standing on Manhattan Island but four buildings which date back to 
or before the War for Independence, namely, Fraunces Tavern, at Pearl and Broad 
streets, which was erected in the early 1700's; the Hall of Records, standing at this 
writing 130 feet east of the City Hall, which was erected about 1756;* the Morris 
(or Jumel) Mansion, on One Hundred and Sixtieth street, near St. Nicholas avenue, 
built in 1758, and St. Paul's Chapel, at Broadway and Vesey street, the corner-stone 
of which was laid in 1764. Each of these buildings has a character and history of 
its own. The ancient history of the Tavern scintillates with brilliant scenes of public 
entertainments and official ceremonies, among which was the memorable parting^ of 

*Thc date cannot be ascertained with exactness. 

5 



Washington from his officers at the close of the Revolution. The Mansion recalls 
the stately social etiquette and picturesque domestic life of the Colonial period, as 
well as the great Commander-in-Chief who made it his headquarters in 1776. The 
Church, practically unchanged in arcnitecture, also preserves, with few alterations, 
the impressive ritual with which the subjects of George II. and George III. worshipped 
before the Revolution and Washington and his contemporaries worshipped afterward. 

But the early memories of the Hall of Records are the sombre and grewsome 
recollections of a Debtors' and a British Prison. 

The antiquity of the latter is more fully appreciated when it is remembered that 
its erection was contemporaneous (although in no way connected) with the French 
and-Indian War. New York City then had a population of 10,530 souls, and consisted 
of about 2,000 buildings, mostly confined below the latitude of the present post-ofTice. 
North of that limit the Island presented a rolling landscape of hill and dale, lake and 
stream, field and forest. The upper portion of the Island was beginning to cornt 
under the cultivation of the thrifty farm owners, but was still enough of a wilderness 
to give lodgment to the survivors of the aboriginal owners.* 

At that time, and for several years previously, the basement and garret of the old 
City Hall, which stood at Wall and Nassau streets, on the site of the present United 
States Sub-treasury, had afforded ample accommodations for the transgressors of the 
law, but the City was growing in wickedness as it grew in population, and it was 
decided to erect a New Gaol on the northeastern corner of the Common (or "Th? 
Fields," as it was then called), adjoining the High Road to Boston. The latter 
branched off from Broadway at Vesey street, following the line of the present Park 
y row, and the triangular area now bounded by Broadway, Park row and Chambers 
street was an open field. Broadway, as then laid out on paper, extended no farther 
than the present Duane street, where it merged with the open country lying to the 
northward ; but building lots in the vicinity of the Common were as yet a drug on the 
market, and at that time the front wave of permanent settlement had advanced but 
little above the latitude of Vesey street. 

Upon the chosen site was erected a square stone building, about 60 by 75 feet in 
size, three stories high, and facing the southwest. The basement consisted of three 
rows of three arched vaults each, varying from 15 by 19 feet to 18 by zSK feet in 
size. The arches were 9 feet high in the centre, built of brick and rested on stone 
foundations 3 feet thick and stone piers 7 feet 8 inches square at the base. The parti- 
tion walls of the cellar were 2 feet thick. There appear to have been no extp/ior 
openings to these dungeons originally. The doorways connecting them weic Closed 
with heavy doors. Above the ground the building was constructed of rough stone 
three stories high. A picture of the period shows the entrance in the middle of the 



'"There are very few Indians on this island, all being either cut off by intestine wars or dis- 
eases," — Letter from New York in 1756. 



first story on the southwestern face, with two windows on either side, and five windows 
each in the second and third stories. The side view shows four windows in each st6ry. 
The roof was square, with a pediment and four dormer windows in the front view and 
four dormer- windows in the side view. Above the centre of the roof arose a cupola 
which contained a bell. This bell was used to give alarms of fire, the location of the 
fire being indicated at night by a lantern suspended from a pole protruding from the 
cupola toward the endangered quarter. The building is said to have cost less than 
$12,000. It was the first one erected for exclusive use as a jail. It was an imposmg 
edifice in its day, and, standing as it did the most conspicuous object to the traveler 
as he entered the town by the old Boston High Road, was a powerful admonition 
to all comers to lead a sober, righteous and upright life — and to pay their debts. The 
latter was by no means the least important of its warnings, for in those days they had 
not adopted the modern beneficent bankrupt law by which a man can swear off his 
superfluous financial obligations and begin life anew with a clean slate, if not a clear 
conscience. At that time the law permitted a creditor to cast a debtor into prison, 
a proceeding which, if it curtailed the debtor's money-earning capacity, at least gave 
the creditor the consolation to be derived from the knowledgfc that he was not the 
only person suffering inconvenience. 

That there were many creditors ready to take that sort of satisfaction is evident 
from the fact that the new gaol soon came to be known as the Debtor's Prison. A 
notice in Gaines' Gazette and Mercury of July 27, 1772, indicates that the public hos- 
pitality extended by the Gaol was not of the most comfortable kind, and was supple- 
mented by the kind offices of a sympnthetic and "respectable publick." "The Debtors 
confined in the Gaol of The City of New York " — so the notice runs — " impressed 
.with a grateful sense of the obligations they are under to a respectable publick for the 
generous contributions that have been made to them, beg leave to return their hearty 
thanks, particularly to the worshipful the Corporation of The City of New York, the 
reverend the Clergy of the English, Dutch and Presbyterian Churches and their 
respective congregations, by whose generous donations they have been comfortably 
supported during the last winter and preserved from perishing in a dreary prison with 
.hunger and cold." 

The Gaol was associated with several notable riots prior to the Revolution. 
Sometimes, as in the case of a Major Rogers of His Majesty's Army, it witnessed 
the beginning ot the riot; and sometimes, as in the case of Alexander MacDougall, 
it was the scene of the closing act. 

The Rogers affair occurred in January, 1764. The gallant Major had been cutting 
a pretty prominent figure in the town, and living beyond his means, until his creditors 
became tired of airy promises to pay and put him in prison. His comrades, stationed 
in the neighboring barracks, took his arrest as an insult to His Majesty's arms and 
an infringement of their superior authority, and demanded his release. The jailor 

7 



shook his keys contemptuously at the enraged soldiers, and told them, in effect it 
not in words, that if they wanted their Major they would have to come and get him. 
This they proceeded to do, breaking open the jail doors with muskets and axes, re- 
leasing Rogers, and giving the other prisoners an opportunity to escape. The latter, 
however, standing more in awe of the civil power than their riotous and uninvited 
deliverers, declined to avail themselves of this temporary and unauthorized amnesty 
and remained in prison. The riot, which was finally quelled by the militia, cost the 
soldiers the life of one of their Sergeants. 

The incarceration of MacDougall was an incident of one of the most stirring 
events of the pre-Revolutionary period. The popular indignation aroused by the 
passage of the obnoxious Stamp Act in 1765 found expression in the organization 
in different parts of the country of bands of patriots called "Sons of Liberty." After 
the repeal of the Stamp Act, other aggravations kept these organizations alive, and 
they were in reality the pioneers of American independence. In New York City 
their favorite out-door rallyirig place was the Common, where they erected their lib- 
erty poles and made their public demonstrations. These liberty poles were the 
objects of lively contentions between the King's troops and the citizens, several of 
them being torn down, one after another, by the soldiers, and as regularly replaced 
by the Sons of Liberty. 

In December, 1769, a hand-bill was printed and circulated, addressed to the "be- 
trayed inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York," sharply reprovmg the 
Assembly for voting supplies to the King's troops, accusing it of betraying the 
common cause of Liberty, and inviting the citizens to meet at the liberty pole in 
the Fields to express their sentiments. It was signed "A Son of Liberty." The 
authorities were scandalized by the hand-bill and sought its author. While the search 
was going on, the soldiers, on the i6th of January, 1770, cut down the liberty pole 
for the fourth time. Feeling ran high, and, on January 18, the soldiers and citizens 
came into conflict in the vicinity of John and William streets in the Battle of 
Golden Hill. This is claimed to have been the first bloodshed of the American 
Revolution. At length, through the confession of the printer, the hand-bill of 
December was traced to MacDougall, one of the leading spirits of the Sons of 
Liberty, and about February 2, 1770, he was arrested and cast into the Gaol. 

MacDougall's case was so similar to that of John Wilkes, who had been im- 
prisoned in England for a famous article on individual liberty, printed in No. 45 of 
" The North Briton," that his friends adopted " 45 " as their cabalistic n,umber. 
Holt's Journal, of February 15, 1770, records the following visit of the " Forty-five " 
to MacDougall in his new quarters: 

"Yesterday, the forty-fifth day of the year, forty-five gentlemen, friends of 
Captain MacDougall and the glorious cause of American Liberty, went in decent 



procession to the New Gaol and dined with him on forty-five pounds of beef steaks, 
cut from a bullock forty-five months old." 

So great was the pressure of MacDougall's callers, that he had to establish 
regular reception hours, and under date of the "New Gaol, February lo, 1770," he 
published a notice to his friends, stating that he would be "glad of the honour of 
their company from three o'clock in the afternoon until six." 

He was released on bail in April. During the Revolutionary War be became a 
Major-General in the Continental Army, and at one time had command at West 
Point. 

The prisoners in the great gaol, peering out through their strongly barred 
windows, saw many exciting scenes enacted on the Common during the next few 
years. They saw the meetings of the Sons of Liberty growing more frequent and, if 
possible, more earnest. Bye and bye they saw a youth, named Alexander Hamilton, 
from the neighboring King's College (now Columbia University), drilling his artil- 
lery company there. Then, on the 9th day of July, 1776, they saw an assembly of 
Continental troops as they were drawn up to listen to the reading of the Declaration 
of Independence. These events were the percursors of others more important and 
quickly to follow, which were destined to change the character of the Debtors' 
Prison for seven long years and to give it a history which will exist long after the 
historic walls have been removed. 

During the twenty years that had elapsed since its erection the surroundings 
■of the Gaol had been somewhat changed. A map of 1776 shows a large workhouse 
occupying approximately the site of the present City Hall, and between that and 
Broadway was a new jail called the Bridewell, erected in 1775. North of the work- 
house were some small, detached buildings; and north of these, on the line of Cham- 
bers street, stood the long barracks of the soldiers, reaching three-quarters of the 
way from Centre street to Broadway. North of the barracks extended the open 
country. Near by was a hill on which a gallows was erected. 

The reading of the Declaration of Independence was followed by the Battle 
of Long Island, August 27, in which the Americans, besides losing about 400 killed and 
wounded, lost 1,000 prisoners. On September 15, the British landed on Manhattan Island 
and took possession of New York City and of the Island up to the vicinity of the 
present i2Sth street. On September 16 occurred the Battle of Harlem Heights, 
and on November 16 the bloody battle of Fort Washington gave the British com- 
plete possession of the Island and threw into their hands 2,700 more prisoners. 

The nearly 4,000 prisoners captured by the British within three months taxed 
the ordinary prison accommodations of the City entirely beyond their resources, 
and in the emergency various public and private buildings were brought into re- 
quisition. Among them were the new Brick Presbyterian Church, which stood in 
the triangle now bounded by Park Row, Beekman and Nassau streets; the Middle 





Dutch Church, formerly on the east side of Nassau street between Crown (Lib- 
erty) and Queen (Cedar) streets; the North Dutch Church, capable of holding 800 
prisoners, on the west side of William street, between Fair (Fulton) and Ann streets; 
the French Church, on the northeast corner of King (Pine) and Nassau streets; the 
King's College Buildings, west of Broadway between the present Park Place arid 
Murray street; the Sugar Houses, notably one in Liberty street and one at Duanc 
and William streets; the old City Hall, on the site of the present Sub-Treasury; the 
dungeons of the old fort at Bowling Green; the new Bridewell, capable of holding 
816 prisoners, and the Gaol, which is the subject of this sketch. * 

The latter, which was reserved for the more notorious "Rebels," civil, naval and 
military, was placed in charge of the Provost Marshal of the British army, William 
Cunningham, whence it came to be called "The Provost." 

Cunningham's character is one of the most repulsive in the history of the war. He 
was a corrupt, hard-hearted and cruel tyrant, who hesitated at nothing that would add 
to the mi.series of his helpless victims ir to his own wealth and comfort. His hatred 
for the Americans found vent in the application of torture with searing-irons and secret 
scourges to those of his charges who, for any reason, fell under the ban of his dis- 
pleasure. His prisoners were crowded so closely into their pens that their health was 
broken by partial asphyxiation ; and many of them were starved to death for want of 
food which the Provost Marshal had sold to enrich his own purse. The abused prison- 
ers were refused permission to see their nearest relatives, and were allowed to suffer 
unattended when ill. They were given muddy water to drink although beautifully clear 
water was obtainable from neighboring springs; and a prisoner's weekly ration was 
restricted to two pounds of hard tack and two pounds of raw salt pork, with no means 
of cooking it. 

An admission to this Bastille, with its known and unknown horrors, was enough 
to appal the stoutest heart. Henry Onderdonk, Jr., in a contribution to Valentine's 
Manual for 1849, describes the jail m these words: 

"On the right hand of the main door was Cunningham's quarters, opposite to 
which was the guard room. Within the first barricade was Sergeant O'Keefe's apart- 
ment. At the entrance door two sentinels were posted day and night ; two more at 
the first and second barricades, which were grated, barred and chained ; also at the rear 
door, and on the platform at the grated door at the foot of the second flight of steps 
leading to the rooms and cells in the second and third stories. 

"When a prisoner, escorted by soldiers, was led into the hall, the v>'hole guard was 
paraded, and he was delivered over with all formality to Captain Cunningham or his 
Djpnty. and questioned as to his name, rank, size, age, etc., all of which were entered 
in a record book.t At the bristling of arms, unbolting of bars and locks, clanking of 

*By the end of 1776 these buildings held nearly 5,000 American prisoners. During the war 
these accommodations became so inadequate that ships were also used as prisons. It is said that 
about 11,000 perished on the Jersey prison ship alone. 

fThese records appear to have been discreetly destroyed by Cunningham or the British author- 
ities, for there is no evidence of their having been preserved. 

10 



enormous iron chains, and a vestibule as dark as Erebus, the unfortunate captive might 
well sink under this infernal sight and parade of tyrannical power, as he crossed the 
threshold of that door which probably closed on him for life. 

"The northeast chamber, turning to the left on the second floor, was appropriated 
to officers and characters of superior rank, and was called Congress Hall. So closely 
were they packed that when they lay down at night to rest (when their bones ached) 
on the hard oak planks and they wished to turn, it was altogether, by word of com- 
mand, 'Right-Left,' the men being so wedged as .o form almost a solid mass of human 
bodies. In the day time the packs and blankets of the prisoners were suspended around 
the walls, every precaution being taken to keep the rooms ventilated and the walls and 
floors clean to prevent jail fever. * 

"In this gloomy abode were incarcerated at different periods many American 
officers and citizens of distinction, awaiting, with sickening hope, the protracted period 
of their liberation. Could these dumb walls speak, what scenes of anguish might they 
not disclose. The Captain and his Deputy were enabled to fare sumptuously by dint of 
curtailing the prisoners' rations, exchanging good for bad provisions, and other em- 
bezzlements. In the drunken orgies that usually terminated his dinners, Cunningham 
would order the rebel prisoners to turn out and parade for the amusement of his 

guests, pointing them out with such characterizations as, 'This is the d d rebel, 

Ethan Allen,' 'This is a rebel judge,' etc." 

In the allusion to Allen we recognize the presence of the celebrated patriot who 
had captured Ticonderoga, "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Con- 
gress." After taking the Lake Champlain stronghold he had joined the expedition 
against Montreal, and been captured on September 25, 1775. He was taken to England, 
thence to Halifax, and in the autumn of 1776 was brought to New York, where he 
was at first allowed the liberty of the City on his parole. Here he was subjected to 
every persuasion by General Howe to induce him to desert the American cause and 
serve the King. He was offered a commission in the King's army and promised large 
tracts of land in Vermont at the close of the war; but his loyalty to the Colonies was 
so true that he indignantly rejected all attempts to purchase his integrity, and his 
confidence in the outcome of the struggle for independence so strong that he openly 
predicted his Majesty's inability to fulfill his promises in regard to the land. 

It may readily be imagined that the failure of these persuasions to move the stead- 
fast patriot did not tend to ingratiate him in the favor of his captors, and in January, 
1777, they clapped him into jail on the charge (which he stoutly denied) of having 
broken his parole. 

Allen was just the sort of rebel whom Cunningham liked to have in his clutches, 
and he was promptly assigned to a solitary dungeon, without bread or water for three 
days. Then he was given a bit of fat pork and a hard biscuit with which to brtfik 
his fast. 

Allen grew restive under his confinement, and evidently considered hinistlf 

•Whether these precautions were maintained, and if so, whether they were tnore successful 
than in the other prisons does not appear. In 1777 the fever raged in the Middle Dutch Church 
prison, whence the dead carts took from eight to twelve corpses every morning and dumped them 
into ditches in the outskirts of the city. 

II 



neglected by his friends, as appears in a letter from Joseph Webb to Governor Jcnathan 
Trumbull, of Connecticut ("Brother Jonathan"), arranging for an exchange of prison- 
ers. "Ethan Allen begs me to represent his situation to you," wrotv Wibb. ' that he 
has been a most attached friend to America ; and he says he's forgot ; he's spending 
his life, his very prime, and is confined in the Provost, and they say for breaking his 
parole," etc. In May, 1778, he was exchanged for Colonel Campbell of the British 
army. 

The "rebel judge" previously mentioned as having been siiNiected to indignities at 
the hands of Cunningham was doubtless Judge Tohn l"-;!!, of Bergen County. N. J., 
who was mentioned by Allen as having been confined with him. Other fellow-prisoners 
v.'ere C:<ptain Travis, of Virginia; William Mill<'..% of Wsstchi.-stcr County. N. Y. ; 
M3jrr Otho Holland Williams, Major Brinton Payne, Ma'or Lfvi Wells, Captam Van 
Zanct, Captain Randolph, and Captain Flahaven. 

That Allen's confinement on a trumped-up charge of breaking his pirole was not 
exceptional appears from a letter written by Colonel Elie Williams to the Board of 
War concerning his brother, Major Othc lioll.xn.l Wiiiiims, mentioned above. The 
letter is dated, "Mr. Shultz's, 29th of December, 1777," and runs as follows: 

"To the Honorable Board of War : 

"Gentlemen — I am induced to trouble your honors from the- deep concern I am 
under arising from the distressed situation of my brother, Major Otho Holland Wil- 
liams, who was numbered amongst the unfortunate at the reduction of Fort Wash- 
ington. He has been the greatest part of his time on Long Island on parole, until some 
time in September, when Mr. Loring, the commissary of prisoners, ordered him to 
New York and confined him in the Provost Guard, upon the affidavit of a person who 
made oath that he had seen a letter in Philadelphia, signed by Major Williams, direct- 
ing our army how to proceed to Long Island to rescue the prisoners. 

"This information I have from Colonel Rawlings, an- eye witness, who since has 
made his escape from one of the prison ships. The mtegrity of this gentleman is so 
well known that his veracity is not to be doubted. Major Williams has not been heard 
nor tried, though he repeatedly preferred his petition to General Howe for that pur- 
pose. The charge against him (breaking his parole) is so inconsistent with his 
character and the confidence of his acquaintance, and his not being admitted to trial 
is a very evident proof of his innocence. 

"He has been perfectly resigned to his fate in war, and supported every disaster 
with manly fortitude; but justice calls for his relief, and the ties of nature and affinity 
make it my duty to solicit your honors in his behalf. 

"Praying that proper measures may be pursued to prevent the innocent from suf- 
fering, and if possible to obtain his relief from the msults, abuses and indignities to 
which he is reduced, and to this end beg that your honors will furnish me with instruc- 
tions to Colonel Boudinot, directing him to send in on parole an officer of equal rank 
with my brother, to return if Major Williams should not be sent out for him. The 
officer sent by us will no doubt use his Influence to effect the exchange, and his 
soliciting the General in person may have a better effect than proposing an exchange 
in any other manner. As I am on my way to camp to send in a supply of cash to 
my brother, should be happy to have your answer as soon as your honors can make 
it convenient. 

"I am, with due deference, "Your most obedient servant, 

"ELIE WILLIAMS." 

It is commonly believed that the unfortunate Nathan Hale, whose statue stands 
in City Hall Park, within sight of the old Gaol, was detained in this prison for a 

12 



portion of the brief interval between his capture, on the night of September 21, 
1776, and his execution, at 11 o'clock on the morning of the 22d. This, however, 
is a matter of conjecture z.nd not record, as the exact place of his captuie, his route 
to the place oi execution, near F'orty-fifth street and First avenue, and the disposi- 
tion of his time meanwhile, are not known to a certainty. There is, nevertheless, 
this link connecting the Provost Gaol with Hale's fate — the same man presided over 
both, it was Cunnmgham who made the preparations for the execution of the 
martyr spy, and who, with diabolical cruelty, destroyed his last letters containmg 
messages to his loved ones, in order "that the rebels should not know that they had 
a man in their army who could die with so much firmness." 

It is impossible to relate all the dark deeds done by the inhuman Cunningham 
during ihe seven years in which he had charge of the Gaol, or recount a tithe of the 
suffering therein endured by those who had championed the cause of American inde- 
pendence, for no records were preserved, and the greater part of the dramatic and 
pathetic history of that period of the building's existence is known only to "Him 
from whom no secrets are hid." But enough is known to make the building one ot 
sacred memory as long as it shall stand, and its site ever to be held in remembrance 
when its walls have been removed. 

The war at length came to an end, and on November 25, 1783, the British evacu- 
ated New York. Most of the city prisons had been emptied before the close of hos- 
tilities, but the Provost was continued in use until Evacuation Day. 

"I was in New York November 25," wrote General Johnson, "and at the Provost 
about 10 o'clock a. m., when an American guard relieved the British guard, which 
joined a detachment of British troops then on parade in Broadway, and marched 
down to the Battery, where they embarked for England." 

It is chronicled that as the Deputy O'Keefe was about to depart the prisoners 
called out asking what was to become of them. 

"You may go to the devil," was the reply. 

"Thank you," rejoined one of the prisoners, "we have had enough of your com- 
pany in this world." 

It would, in a measure, appease one's sense of justice if the reported fate of the 
inhuman Provost Marshal could be confirmed. It is stated with a degree of pre- 
cision that, having been convicted of forgery — an oflfence which would appear to 
have been more serious in English estimation than the torture and murder of help- 
less prisoners — he was hanged in London August lo, 1791. But there is no official 
confirmation of this, or of the "dying confession" which he is said to have made in 
the following words: 

"I was appointed Provost Marshal to the Royal Army, which placed me in a 
situation to wreak vengeance on the Americans. I shudder to think of the murders 
I have been accessory to. both with and without orders from the Government, 
especially while we were in New York, during which time there were more than 

13 



2,ooo prisoners starved in the churches by stopping their rations, which I sold. 
There were also 275 American prisoners and obnoxious persons executed, which 
were thus conducted: A guard was dispatched from the Provost about half-past 12 
o'clock at night to the Barrack street, and the neighborhood of the upper baracks, 
to order the people to shut their window shutters and put out their lights, forbid 
ding them at the same time to look out of their windows and doors on pain of death; 
after which the unfortunate prisoners were conducted, gagged, just behind the upper 
barracks, and hung without ceremony, and there buried by the black pioneer of the 
Provost." 

Whether or no the foregoing ever proceeded from Cunningham's lips, there is 
only too much reason to believe that it represents the truth. 

After the war the building continued to be used as a city prison until 1830. By 
that time the city had come to need better quarters for its public records and a 
committee of the Common Council selected the old Gaol for such use. About 
$15,000 was then spent in remodelling and refitting it. The original three stories 
were transformed into two by changing the floors and windows; the cupola and the 
roof with its dormer windows were removed and a flat roof substituted; and the 
building was lengthened at each end about seventeen feet by the addition of a 
Grecian portico and steps. The six columns of each portico were of the Ionic order 
(not Doric order, as generally stated), and supported a perfectly plain entablature 
and pediment. These changes having been made, the rough stone exterior was 
nicely smoothed over with a uniform coating of stucco, and the whole transforma- 
tion was alleged to have given the one-time Gaol something of the classic beauty 
of the Doric Temple of Diana at Ephesus — one of the Seven Wonders of the World. 
The result, however, was an architectural nondescript, possessing neither the sub- 
stantial simplicity of the original building nor any recognizable resemblance to the 
beautiful heathen temple of the Goddess of the Silver Bow,* which it was supposed 
to imitate. The old bell that was used to sound the primitive fire alarms was placed 
over the neighboring Bridewell. When the Bridewell was removed, in 1838, the 
bell continued to ring out its alarms from the roof of Naiad Hose Company, in 
Beaver street, until, a short time later, it was destroyed by the element against 
which for so many years it had given its warnings. 

In 1832, while the reconstruction was in progress, an epidemic of cholera broke 
out in the city, driving many of the inhabitants to the outlying villages and paralyz- 
ing business. During the prevalence of the scourge, the work of remodelling the 
Gaol was suspended, and it was used temporarily for a hospital. ' 

' Upon the completion of the repairs it was occupied by municipal offices and ' 
became the depository of the City records. Within twenty-five years, however, even ' 
these accommodations were outgrown, and in 1858 the Surrogate was obliged to 
move to other quarters. In the following year the Street Commissioner followed ' 



*As in the case of the famous Ephesian temple, the destroyer of the old Hall of Records will be' ,. 
remembered while its builder is forgotten. It is conceded, however, that the motives inspiring ; 
Herostratus and McDonald are quite different. , 

H 



31^77-125 
Lot 52 



suit, and in 1869 the Comptroller evacuated, since which time the building has been 
in sole possession of the City Register, and has been known indifferently as the 
Register's Office and the Hall of Records. 

During the supremacy of the Tweed ring (some of whom may well have desired 
tc c^bliterate any possible suergestion of the original character of the building), the 
City fathers spent $140,000 more on the ancient gaol. Their "improvements" con- 
sisted of the erection of another story rbove Diana's entablature and pediments, and 
the fuither enlargement of the interior accommodations by the simple expedient of 
filling up the inter-spaces between the columns of the southwestern portico so that 
these columns were converted in appearance from pillars to pillasters. If anything 
Wire needed in addition to thi; magic touch of the Tweed regime to make this build- 
ing one of the "wonders of the world" (architecturally), it has not been supplied, 
for this much abused structure has remained substantially unchanged ever since. 

In 1897 the Git}* government made provision for the erection of a new Hall of 
Records, now in course of construction in Chambers street, and in December, 1897, 
the Board of Alderm.en, with Mayor Strong's approval, voted to place the old 
building, when vacated, in the care of the National Historical Museum, for use as a 
pubiic museum of historical rilics. Soon thereafter, the construction of the under- 
ground rapid transit tunnel was begun and the Subway Commission, desiring to 
h»cate one of their stations opposite the Brooklyn Bridge terminus, applied for the 
removal of the olJ Hall of Records. After the most strenuous opposition by the 
National Historical Museum, the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society 
arJ the representatives of numerous other organizations, voiced in the press and 
before committees of the City government, those favoring the removal of the build- 
ing applied to the Supreme Court for an order for removal. The application was 
basod on the affidavits of Inspectors of the Department of Buildings, alleging that 
the building was unsafe and dangerous to life — rendered so, apparently by the sub- 
way excavations, which had now reached the foundations. After earnest arguments 
in opposition. Justice Leventritt announced on October 10, 1902, that he would issue 
an order for the demolition of the building. 

It IS to be hoped that means may yet be found to secure either the preservation 
o*'the building on its pre&c>nt site, or its restoration in its original form on another 
site The old revolutionary prison is a unique landmark. There is not another 
building with a like history in the United States. It is a monument to the patriotism 
and devotion of a generation of heroes, the benefits of whose sufferings and sacri- 
fices we enjoy; and gratituc'e and pride alike dictate that in some form and in some 
place these historic stone.s should be preserved. 

(i.i: 

••'. v,r ''> 
. :. ■: : .• :[::!:\f 

IS 



24I9G7 



COMMUNICATIONS 



National Historical Museum, 156 Fifth Avenue, 

New York, October 21, 1902. 
The Honorable Board of Aldermefl of The City of New York, City Hall, New York: 
Dear Sirs — I beg to communicate to you herewith an historical sketch of the 
Old Hall of Records Building, received from the Librarian of the New York 
Historical Society, and trust that you will find it appropriate to include this in your 
records, together with papers this day presented. I am. 

Respectfully, 

J NO. DU PAIS, Secretary. 



New York Historical Society, No. 170 Second Avenue, 

New York, October 10, 1902. 
JOHN DUFAIS, Esq., Secretary National Historical Museum: 

Dear Sir — In reph to your letter of the 8th inst., I would state that the old Hall 
of Records Building, knovsn as the "new jail." was erected in 1757. on a site chosen 
in the fielHs. or common, the present City Hall Park. At first the building was de- 
signed to be two stories in height; before its completion, however, it was decided 
to add a third story. The building was used as a jail up to the war of the American 
Revolution, subsequently it was known as the "Debtors' Prison," until about 1830. 
Since the latter date to the present as the "Register's Ofifice" or "Hall of Records.'' 
The walls of the original building are still standing, though not recognizable under 
the exterior of the present "Hall of Records." In front of the original edifice a 
whipping post, stocks, cage and pillory were erected about 1764. 

Herewith you will find copy of Dawson's description of the old buiHing. cover- 
ing the period of the revolution. A view of the jail will be found in the "manual 
of the Corporation of The City of NewYork" for 1847, facing page 54. 

Respectfully yours, 

ROBERT H. KELBY, Librarian. 

[Mr. Kelby's letter contained an extract from Dawson's and Davis' "Remin- 
iscences of the Park, Etc., 1855," substantially the same as quoted from Onderdonk's 
description on pages 10 and 11.] 



The Women's Auxiliary to the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. 
To the Honorable Board of Aldermen: 

The rnembers of the Women's Auxiliary to the American Scenic and Historic 
Preservation Society earnestly request the Board of Aldermen to prevent the demoli- 
tion of the old Hall of Records. 

They believe that it should be kept on the present site, but ask that if the removal 
of the structure be considered a necessity that it shall be carefully transferred to 
some suitable location. 

This is one of the four historic buildings connected with the American Revolu- 
tion that are still standing on Manhattan Island, and we beg that it may not be 
sacrificed. 

Respectfully yours, 

KATE M. BROOKFIELD 

(Mrs. William Brookfield), 
President of the Women's Auxiliary. 
October 20. 1902. 

Which were severally referred to the Committee on Public Education. 

16 



